In US 2010/0085708 A1, there is described an uninterruptible power supply UPS that may include direct cooling for various components of the UPS that generate heat. The direct cooling may be part of a cooling system that directs the generated heat to the ambient environment external to the room or building housing the UPS such that the heat load of the UPS places a minimal or zero load on the air-conditioning system for the room within which the UPS is located. The cooling system can utilize multiple cooling loops to transfer the heat from the heat-generating components of the UPS to the ambient environment.
In US 2004/0158428 A1, there is described a portable auxiliary cooling system for cooling electrical power transformers is provided with an intelligent controller that is programmable for functioning in a plurality of different operational modes. A plurality of sensors monitor cooling system equipment operation, transformer top oil temperature and transformer current. The cooling system controller includes a user-interface panel, a modem and/or other digital communications circuitry, data storage memory and a computer or microprocessor that performs real-time heat removal rate computations and automatically controls heat pump and fan operation in response to the computed results. System performance data, sensor readings and alarm condition indications are indicated on a user-interface panel and may also be provided to a remote station or operator using conventional digital communication facilities.
Typically, power stations and solar stations comprise different components such as a transformer for coupling the power station to a power network, a generator for transforming mechanical energy derived from, e.g., wind energy or a water flow into electrical energy, and/or a rectifier for controlling the frequency of generated power signals prior to forwarding thereof to the power network.
During operation of the power station each functional unit of the power station is cooled so as to avoid any over heating of, e.g., the transformer, the generator or the rectifier and related damage of the equipment. However, each such component may be provided by different vendors and therefore uses its own cooling equipment.
Therefore, cooling equipment of the power station becomes bulky which is a great disadvantage, e.g., for power stations operated within wind mills which become more and more popular in view environmental protection requirements.
Also, during operation of the power station some functional units of the power station may generate heat and therefore need cooling while others, e.g., during system start may need a heating. As different functional units in the power station are cooled and heated independently from each other there is a waste of energy as discharged heat is not re-used for heating purposes.
Also, the provision of multiple cooling systems through different vendors providing the transformer, the generator and the rectifier leads to plurality of cooling equipments which is highly cost inefficient.